Central Catholic transfer Langston Moses wins appeal, eligible for basketball playoffs

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 | 7:11 PM

If Central Catholic qualifies for the WPIAL basketball playoffs, junior Langston Moses is eligible to take part this winter, the WPIAL decided Wednesday.

The 6-foot-3 standout transferred this summer from Winchester Thurston, where he averaged 22 points per game. The WPIAL initially made Moses eligible for the regular season but ineligible for the postseason under a PIAA rule that affects all transfers after the start of 10th grade.

After Central Catholic appealed, the WPIAL held a hearing Wednesday and granted Moses a postseason waiver, WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said.

“The family demonstrated that they qualified to receive the waiver,” Scheuneman said.

Central Catholic went 14-12 last season under first-year coach Brian Urso. The Vikings reached the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals and the first round of the state playoffs.

Urso was pleased Moses won’t have to sit and watch.

“Playing in the postseason and trying to win a WPIAL championship means everything,” Urso said. “They work really hard all year to push themselves in the right position to achieve that. I’m just happy for him because I know he’ll do what he can to help us achieve that goal.”

Under PIAA rules, the reasons deemed sufficient for a postseason waiver are:

• A change of residence necessitated by a change in employment.

• A school-initiated administrative transfer within a school district.

• A court-ordered transfer.

• A change of schools caused by a military reassignment of a parent.

• A change of schools caused by release from a juvenile facility.

• Or a demonstrable change in income or other financial resources that compels withdrawal from a school.

Scheuneman didn’t say which criteria the WPIAL accepted.

Moses led Winchester Thurston to the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals and the PIAA first round last season. Neither school considered the transfer athletically motivated.

Urso described the WPIAL’s decision as good news for a school that needed some following the deaths of two recent graduates.

“I’m just happy given the current state of how things are down at Central, after some recent brotherhood losses,” Urso said. “Given everything that’s going on, it was great to hear positive news.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Central Catholic, Winchester Thurston